


We are here

by clexa_rules_the_earth



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Aliens, Arkadia, F/F, The Ark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-12 14:15:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7108582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clexa_rules_the_earth/pseuds/clexa_rules_the_earth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke Griffin has managed to survive an alien attack on her hometown of Arkadia at the expense of her best friend. She has to figure out how to get her friend back, and how to stop the invasion. Fortunately she might find assistance along with an anonymous stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What am I doing?

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to my most amazing friend who helped me write the first chapter of this. This work is greatly influenced by the book "I am number four" it's a great sci-fi book, and I highly recommend it. I saw amazing potential for a fic, so here it is. I will continue to update this regularly.

_You’re an idiot, Clarke Griffin._

  
This happens to be the thought that screams through my head every hundred miles or so on the road when I have a moment of self-doubt. These moments seem to be occurring progressively more often throughout this trip. Maybe it's a moment of clarity? I don’t know if I’m crazy or an idiot. But when I face what's going on--that I've stolen a CIA agent’s computer, managed to severely piss off some aliens, and am driving across the country in order to try and find my missing best friend, Octavia, who happens to be dating a good alien--I can’t help but think it’s true. I'm an idiot. Or I’m crazy. Or both.

Whatever I happen to be, it's too late to going back to being who I was before Reapers destroyed my school and leveled my town. Not too long ago I was some hot shit at Ark High, with a bright, artistic, future ahead of me. Now I'm the girl who's wanted by government agencies and some bad ETs.

I chug a can of energy drink and crush it in my hand, tossing it into the passenger seat, where it meets many of it’s kind. I have had to have been on the road for about seventeen hours, and sadly I didn’t start on a great night of sleep. The only thing keeping me awake is a mixture of adrenaline, worrying about Octavia, and probably a dangerous amount of energy drinks. One look in the rearview mirror tells me I need to sleep. My eyes are bloodshot and rather dark, but I don't have time for such minor things as sleep. Octavia's with the agency, according to the email I managed to intercept on my new computer. Before opening that email I tried to open a file named “TestR” but for some reason the whole computer shut down. Now the damn thing won’t even power up. It’s sitting on the floor, probably buried in crushed drinks.

I don’t want to think about what the CIA or the Reapers are doing to Octavia. I can barely even believe that the CIA--or at least the agents in Arkadia--are working with the aliens. Instead of that, I focus on the fact that I’m on my way to bust her out… somehow. That part comes later. After a few more hours of empty roads on my fifteen-hundred-mile-in-one-day journey from Ohio to New Mexico, I’ll be there to try and save her. Me. Alone. Against a bunch of red-ass reapers and probably the CIA, NSA, FBI and the Illuminati or whatever.

My phone dings--a burner, one I bought at an almost deserted truckstop maybe an hour outside of Arkadia. The sound happens to remind me that I’m not technically alone in my mission to save Octavia. There’s someone helping me. He’s the only person who has this number. I look at the text.

**HEDA: Getting close to the NM border?**

I glance up quickly to see an approaching sign on the side of the road telling me that Colorado State Highway 19 will turn into New Mexico State highway 19 in ten miles. HEDA has been weirdly good at guessing where I’m at since I've been on the road.

I text him back, telling him that I’m around ten minutes away. Almost as soon as the message delivers, I get another ding.

**HEDA: Gas station approaching on the NM side of the border. It should be on the right. Pull off there: I’ve got some stuff for you.**

I think my brain practically explodes when I see this. I’m going to be face-to-face with HEDA: the most renowned conspiracy theorist at the WeAreNotAlone website, hacker pro and kind of my only friend now that Octavia's gone. Even if I haven't ever met him. I've never talked to him over the phone because he’s as obsessed with his own privacy as he is with the Reapers and Grounders.

Okay, maybe friends isn't the term I'm looking for, exactly. I suppose were more of partners in this alien shit. He’s the computer, and the brains, and I'm the good-looking princess who’s going to save her friend and save the world. Idealy, of course.

The idea of meeting, in person, with HEDA sends my already racing head into overdrive. I keep imagining some badass movie where I pull some cool stunts, and weapons out of places nobody even knew were there. Liberating anybody who’s been taken hostage by the Reapers in a montage of explosions. Then the pounding in my chest starts to drum faster, and I remember that, sadly, this is real life, no matter how weird it all seems to be. I think of the huge Reaper dude I saw while I was acting like some sort of spy at the police station in Arkadia. He was a huge muscular figure with sunken eyes and streaks of white across his face. He easily had maybe two hundred pounds on me and was probably packing enough weapons to incinerate me. Then I happen to think back to all the gross-as-shit Reapers we faced at The Ark. I mean, I somehow managed to fight my way out of the whole mess and protected Octavia in the process, but the idea of meeting up with those dudes again makes me seriously want to turn around and head home, if it’s even there anymore.

I quickly turn up the radio and tell myself it will somehow all be fine.

_I’ll be okay. I’ll save Octavia. HEDA and I will work together. He’ll know what to do._

It’s two in the morning when I finally cross the border of Colorado into New Mexico. Sure enough, there’s an old looking as station at the first exit. This time of night, the place looks deserted.

As soon as I turn into the station my head throbs and I wonder if for some reason I’m in any kind of danger. But that should be impossible. I’ve been careful, and God knows HEDA isn't going to screw up oh his end. I still feel uneasy for some reason.

I try to blame the feeling on my very clear lack of sleep.

I park at the only lit gas pump, loud lights buzzing annoyingly above me. Suddenly being under the light makes everything extremely hard to see, so I flash my headlights twice. I've seen enough shows to know to know that this should be some form of a sign on my part. Nobody appears, so I jump out of my car and start to gas up since I’m here, keeping my eyes fixed beyond the light watching for movement.

I’m seven gallons full when a tall figure appears from the darkness along the right side of the station.

“HEDA?” I call out.  
  
The figure doesn’t answer, which doesn’t exactly send good vibes.

I suddenly wish I had a weapon to defend myself with. If this dude’s a Reaper I’m screwed. I can hear my heart beating clearly, and I bet the other person can hear it as well. I tighten my grip on the gas pump. Hosing the dude down might buy me enough time to get back in my car and away from them.

Fortunately it's obvious this person isn’t a Reaper. _She_ is tall and lean, but noticeably well built. But she doesn’t exactly shout FBI either. She’s got on a rather tight fitting leather jacket, and judging by the helmet under her left arm, I would bet that she’s got a nice bike at the other side of the station. My relief is only temporary, because she looks pissed off as she approaches. That's when I finally get a better look at the box under her other arm. I still keep my hold on the pump.

“Umm… Hi.” I mumble. I don't really know what to say to her. “I don’t know exactly…”

“Ski Griffin?” She asks.

It takes me a moment to answer because I’ve never been addressed like that in real life. Hell, have I ever heard the words out loud? Technically I am SKYGRIFFIN2198, or only when I blog for WeAreNotAlone.

“Yeah?” I slowly ask.

She roughly pushes the box into my arms.

“Sign,” she says, holding me out a sheet of paper. I sign the paper, but i read the courier service label and it's actually marked for Ski Griffen. This must be HEDA’s way of making sure my real name stays out of the equation. Still, I can't help but be bummed that he sent a courier instead of coming to the station himself.

I thought I was finally going to meet him. I thought I was finally going to meet HEDA.

The girl intensely keeps her eyes focused on me. I'm not even sure if she blinks at all. It creeps me out enough to take my mind off the fact that HEDA isn’t here.

She takes her page back after I’ve signed for the package but she keeps staring at me, like her green eyes are trying to read mine. Finally she speaks.

“You should get off the road and sleep.” Her voice is cold, and stern, more of a command than a suggestion. “You look like shit.”

And then she walks back off into the darkness.

I rip my car door open and get in eagerly, tearing into the box. I dig out things I don’t recognize” computer stuff, maps, little gadgets. There’s a smartphone, along with a stack of cash that’s got to be at least a thousand bucks. There’s even a black, padded messenger bag--I’m guessing to carry all of this shit around in.

_Whats going on?_

Suddenly, the phone’s screen powers on. After a few seconds a text message pops up.

**HEDA: Thought you could use some supplies. Instructions are on the phone. Careful, they will delete themselves after you’ve read them. Good luck. -H**

HEDA sent me a care package.

There isn’t a return address on the box, not to my surprise. I jump out of the car, but it’s too late--I can already hear the rumbling of the courier’s bike fading away somewhere along the highway.

The click of the gas pump causes me to flinch. I’m about to pack everything back into the box when I realize that there is a weird metal cylinder around half an inch wide and four inches tall that seems to be a sort of light? There’s a Post-it note attached that has “to put it simply: Reaper repellant” written on it. I suddenly feel like I’m holding some sort of next generation bomb.

Looking back and forth between the possible weapon and the stack of cash, one big question rings far louder than the rest: _Who the fuck is HEDA?_


	2. The Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke Griffin continues her search for her best friend. Even if the reality seems like absolute fantasy.

I pack everything up and get back on the highway--I’m only a few hours from Dulce, and now that I have a bunch of weird gadgets and cash, the last place I want to be is parked out in the open under the lights of a random gas station. So I drive, fighting the urge to go over all the notes on the smartphone that the courier gave me. Once I get close to where the secret Dulce base is supposed to be located, I give in and pull off to the and pull off to the side of the road to get my shit together. I can't exactly charge into a secret government base and demand to talk to Octavia Blake. I start by taking a full inventory of the stuff HEDA sent me, carefully reading the notes on the new phone, which I‘m supposed to use to communicate with my unseen partner now.

Most of the stuff in the box seems to be computer related. There’s a little netbook that's got a handy wi-fi hotspot installed inside that can bounce my location to satellites around the world, making anything I do impossible to track. That way I'll be able to communicate and upload stuff to WeAreNotAlone without worrying about a bunch of black helicopters swooping in. There also happens to be a USB drive that will supposedly help to get CIA computer I swiped up and running again--HEDA thinks that the files I saw disappearing before the screen went black may still be hidden somewhere on the hard drive. I still have no goddamn clue as to what the apparent “Reaper repellant” is.There's no explanation as to what it actually does, and I can't help but wonder if HEDA somehow managed to snag an alien weapon.  
  
I kind of wish he’d also sent along a laser pistol or something legitimately helpful.

The cash is pretty self-explanatory. Well, not exactly. The fact that he would up and send fifteen hundred dollars--I counted--to someone who he sorta knows makes me wonder if he's actually some kind of hacker billionaire operating out of a secret lair that looks like something out of The Matrix.

I shove everything into the messenger bag, including my old burner phone. As cool as all the gadgets are, the most helpful thing in the box for me right now is the stack of satellite images and blueprints of the Dulce base. All the maps I found online showed nothing but desert where it should have been, but the stuff HEDA sent is comprehensive, laying out the big-ass complex and giving me a good idea of the size of the thing and where I might be able to sneak in. there are even blueprints of what the underground levels of the place might look like

It’s intimidating as all hell.

Flipping through the maps, I don't know how I'm going to be able to find Octavia in this mess. She could be anywhere. She might not even be there anymore. My body feels like it's sinking upon itself as I consider how impossible this mission is. How stupid I am for thinking I could just waltz in and save her from them.

I pop open another drink, downing the whole can.

I put my car into gear and get back on the road. I’ll have a better idea of what my plan should be once I get there. Surely.

After around fifteen minutes of driving, I take an unmarked road that is circled on the maps HEDA sent. The base can't be that far now. I turn off my lights and drive slowly. There’s just enough moonlight for me to be able to see. For a few minutes I see nothing but hilly desert in front of me, but then I finally spot a tall chain link fence in the distance that appear to be topped with razor wire.

_That’s gotta be it._

There doesn’t appear to be any gate or path leading to the base perimeter, so I do a quick prayer, blow a kiss to the dashboard of my car and off road carefully through the desert, trying my hardest to avoid any big shrubs or rocks, and pretending not to worry about the fact that, for all I know, there could be mines and stuff all around out here.

But there aren't any. Or at least I don’t hit any of them. Instead, I get within a few yards of the fence and park. Just in case there are hidden cameras around I grab one of my baseball caps with the Arks’ logo on it and pull it down low, hiding as much of my face as I can.

The fence is at least three times as tall as I am, and I can't see most of the base because of a mesa or hill or whatever it is that's currently hiding it. There aren't any lights on--or at least not outside. I wish I’d thought to buy some sort of night-vision goggles or that HEDA had sent some along. I squint, trying to figure out what all the shapes are in the moonlight. It looks like there are burned-out Humvees and other military vehicles, along with varying shrapnel littering the desert around the base. From what I can tell, nothing good happened here recently. Something crazy definitely went down here. Something epic.

It reminds me of The Ark and the way my school looked after we’d all fought and attempted to escape the Reapers. This is the kind of shit that will happen when good aliens and bad aliens collide. Were the Grounders here? Was Luna here? Maybe Octavia doesn’t need saving anymore.

But she would have tried to contact me if she were free, right? And what if dumbass Luna and her other ET friends did try to save Sarah but got captured?

What if i'm the only person left to bail them out?

_I have to get in there. Now._

“Okay, Clarke,” I say. “Time to save the day.”

I walk beside the fence for a few minutes trying to see more of the base while at the same time wondering if I’ve got something in my car that might be able to create a hole in the chain fe. But I luck out, because i finally get to a section of fence that's been knocked down--maybe even blown apart. Judging by the mangled pieces of metal littering the ground

_That’s my entrance._

I think about going back to the car to grab the “repellant” HEDA sent to me, but i'm kind of scared that it would go off in my pocket and somehow, like, vaporize me. Probably the lamest possible outcome of the night would be me trying to be hero and blowing myself up instead, leaving Octavia all alone in a dark and musty cell.

So instead, I take a deep breath and step through the hole in the fence.

Once i'm inside the perimeter, I jog towards some of the wreckage dotting the desert hills towards and looking for a way to access the main facility, which, according to HEDA’s maps, is mostly located underground. I try to stay low and out of sight, hiding behind half-crumbled walls and wishing I’d thought of getting darker clothes since my white t-shirt probably isn’t helping my stealthiness. But I keep moving, eventually crouching behind what looks like a collapsed watchtower.

_What the hell happened here?_

Some of the buildings and vehicles around the main facility look like they’ve exploded--all scorched and burned-out--while others appear to have been blown apart by some other force. Maybe telekinesis? Maybe Luna or the other Grounders really were here? The place looks completely vacant. Decommissioned. Half my brain says I should just forget about trying to find a way inside and go back to my car since there looks like there’s no way a major CIA or Reaper operation could still be working out of this broken-down base. But can't do that. I've come too far. And if there's any chance that Octavia is still inside…

I think I see a shadow move out of the corner of my eye. I hold my breath and stand frozen for what feels like a long time, trying to figure out if there's anyone around-squinting in the moonlight. But there's nothing. The wind whistles, and I exhale.

I run to one of the charred Humvees, staying close to the ground, and roll behind it. In movies, spies and badass cops are always rolling behind cover, but all this does is get sand all over me and in my eyes. I try not to cough as I blink for half a minute, telling myself not to try and pull anymore fancy moves. I just have to get in, find Octavia and get out.

I spot my entry point. There’s a bunch of debris strewn around a pit about twenty yards away from me where it looks like the ground collapsed into some kind of sinkhole. I can just make out a few walls and stuff below--the hole must lead straight down into the facility. All I have to do is jump down and I'm in, no locks to try to get past or anything.

Whatever battle took place here has given me a perfect way into the facility.

I start for the hole, keeping my eyes peeled for any movement. I’m halfway between it and the Humvee when a blinding light appears from somewhere to my right.

_Shit._

  
But then there's another light that looks like it's coming from on top of the wreckage. And then there are lights everywhere, stunning me, making it impossible for me to even know which direction I’m facing anymore. I’m not sure if this is some kind of defense system or if i'm about to be beamed up into a Reaper ship or something. My head spins and I start to hyperventilate, completely regretting not bringing the repellant with me.

I figure emerges from the light, silhouetted. I can’t make out a face or anything. Can't tell if it's even a human or a Reaper. I plant my feet and clench my fists.

If this is my last stand, I have to make it count for something. I shout out the first thing that comes into my mind.

“I’ve come for Oct---”

But before I can finish the sentence, someone attacks me from behind and there's fabric over my head. Everything goes dark. I swing around, flailing wildly, but im struggling against a bunch of people, and before I know it, my hands are cuffed in front of me.

_I've made a big mistake._

I'm dragged through the sand until i'm inside some kind of building, my feet kicking against a hard floor. I struggle and shout the whole time, but no one says anything to me. It's like they can’t even hear me. Nut until they start pushing me up some stairs and one of them threatens to tase me if I don't shut up. So I do.

The bag over my head is scratchy against my face, and the air inside is thick with my rapid breathing. The more I think about what’s happening, the faster and deeper my breath gets, until I’m sucking a bunch of fabric into my mouth every time I inhale.

I'm afraid i’m going to die here. I'm going to be reaper food. Or i'm going to end up a human lab rat. My parents will never know what happened to me. I'm going to become an unsolved case, just one good looking girl who was likely going to become one of the world's most famous artist that ends up on a bunch of MISSING posters for a while until all hope is gone.

_You're an idiot, Clarke._

Someone forces me into a chair and rips the bag off my head. The lights are way to bright and I wince. I try to cover my eyes with my cuffed hands when I realize they've been chained to the center of a metal desk in front of me. I pull against him with all my strength, but there's no way i'm breaking free.

I'm in way over my head.

I look around frantically. The room is small and looks empty except for the high powered lamp shining right in my face. There's nothing in here but me, the desk and the light.

And a voice.

“Clarke griffin,” a man says.

It's a voice I sort of recognize but can't really place. I hear a few footsteps from where behind the light and squint as the man comes into view.

And then I realize why I know him. He is dark skinned and one of his arms is in a sling, peeking out from underneath his uniform. He couldn't look more pissed off.

“Agent Pike?” I ask.

He sighs and raises his good arm to his face. He closes his eyes and rubs one temple.

“You're a real pain in the ass, kid,” he says, shaking his head.


End file.
